Secretary of Transportation Mary
Peters has sent legislation to Congress
that would allow states to spend
their motorcycle safety grant funds
on efforts to encourage helmet use.
Currently, state highway safety
offices can only use the funds for
training or education programs.

Secretary Peters is a selfdescribed
avid motorcyclist, and
she credits her helmet and riding
gear with saving her life during
a motorcycle crash in 2005. The
Secretary noted that states need
additional resources to combat a
sharp increase in motorcycle fatalities.
In 2006, motorcycle fatalities
reached 4,810, an increase of 127
percent since 1997. NHTSA estimates
not only that motorcycle
helmets saved the lives of 1,658
motorcyclists in 2006, but also that
752 additional lives could have
been saved if all motorcyclists had
worn helmets.

Motorcycle advocacy groups
were predictably concerned with the Secretary's position. Jeff Hennie,
Vice President of Government
Relations for the Motorcycle Riders
Foundation, issued a statement that
they are "extremely disappointed
that Mrs. Peters would choose this
small, yet critical, grant program to
raid. We understand her desire to
encourage helmet use, but couldn't
the Secretary of Transportation find
a more suitable program to fund
her personal helmet hunt?"

The Secretary has called motorcycles
"our nation's greatest highway
safety challenge." To address
the challenge, she launched a
comprehensive motorcycle safety
initiative last fall. Her plan
emphasizes more rider education
and training, tougher standards
for helmet certification labeling,
law enforcement training and road
designs that consider motorcycle
dynamics.